Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 45How Do We Receive the Spirit’s Power?When you speak about the fullness of the Spirit, the reaction of many Christiansis to say something like, “That’s great for some Christians, but it’s not for me -- I’m not goodenough! I don’t qualify. If I were more dedicated and spent more time in Bible reading andprayer, I might eventually be worthy to walk in the Spirit.”But they’ve got it backwards. The Holy Spirit is not given to those who have itall together spiritually -- The Holy Spirit is given to enable us to get it togetherspiritually! Paul’s words, “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out thedesires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).The order makes an incredible difference! Christians often ignore any thought ofwalking by the Spirit, because they think they are not good enough. Their life is toofilled with fleshly struggles. But that’s like refusing to accept medicine until you getwell and feel worthy of it!The whole purpose of medicine is to enable us to get well. It is given to the sick,not the healthy. In the same way, the Spirit is given to enable us to break sin’s power;we don’t have to do that on our own before we receive the Spirit’s power.Imagine someone say, “I’m not good enough to be saved; I’m going to wait until I getmyself together before I come to Christ.” You would quickly point out that salvation isdesigned for sinners. None of us is ever good enough to be saved; we are savedbecause of God’s great generosity in Christ. A person who says he isn’t good enough tobe saved is missing the point of Christ’s death.But the same applies to the Holy Spirit. As Christ’s death gives us forgiveness,so Christ’s ascension and glorification gives us the Holy Spirit. And the coming of theHoly Spirit into our lives is not just for window dressing. He indwells us so that He mightcontrol us!Many seem to make the requirements for walking in the Spirit too complicated.They’ve stressed dedication, surrender, and discipline as prerequisites to the Spirit’spower. Can any one of us be sure we have fully carried out all the requirements thatmany seem to require? Isn’t the Spirit’s power given to enable us to be yielded anddisciplined, rather than expecting all of these characteristics first?Notice Christ’s words, “If any man is thirsty, let him come unto Me and drink!” Theonly requirement is a thirst that will draw us to come to Him. We don’t have to besuper-saints, just thirsty believers. That’s why Christ could offer living water to awoman who had had five husbands and was now living common-law with anotherman. He promised that from within her would burst forth living water that wouldquench her emotional and spiritual thirst (John 4:10-14).